Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years [Hardcover]

Barbara Leaming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2001

MRS. KENNEDY: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years is a poignant and deeply sympathetic account of Jacqueline Kennedy during the 1,000 days of the Kennedy presidency. Critically acclaimed biographer Barbara Leaming has -- with revelatory new eyewitness testimony, profoundly moving letters written by Jackie, minute-by-minute Secret Service records, and recently declassified top-secret documents -- crafted an astonishing portrait of a Jackie Kennedy the world has not previously known. Leaming's meticulous reportage illuminates the tumultuous day-to-day life of a young woman fighting for her survival, her marriage, and her husband's presidency. Its unique perspective on the very public Kennedy marriage during an extraordinary time in our nation's history is both riveting and shocking. Leaming's conviction that the Kennedys' private life cannot be understood outside the context of the presidency makes MRS. KENNEDY something much more than a portrait of a marriage. It is also, in important ways, the story of the Kennedy presidency, with a tremendous missing piece filled in. Leaming has produced not only the definitive account of the Kennedy marriage, but also a richly detailed and marvelously dramatic picture of John F. Kennedy and his administration as they have never been seen before.

Brilliantly researched, intellectually probing and far-reaching in scope, MRS. KENNEDY is a book that will forever change the way we think about both Jacqueline Kennedy and the man she loved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Asserting that Jacqueline Kennedy's role in shaping her husband's presidency has been under-examined, Leaming (Katharine Hepburn) offers a corrective in this intimate look at a very private woman. Initially inclined to keep herself as much in the background as possible, says Leaming, Jacqueline Kennedy became an increasingly visible and vocal first lady as she realized how effective she could be as an image maker. It's in this capacity that Leaming convincingly depicts her as being instrumental in shaping the course of her husband's administration: charming, intuitive and socially savvy, she was clearly adept at recognizing precisely how to win over any given individual or audience, and to convince them to see her husband in a favorable light. While many world leaders, for example, were initially inclined to view John F. Kennedy as a playboy and an intellectual lightweight, Jackie skillfully massaged their perceptions until they began to take him more seriously and consequently to be much more responsive to his foreign policy agenda. But even as she worked hard on his behalf, Jack continually betrayed her with his legendary infidelities; the impact of this on Jackie's psyche is also a major theme here. Indeed, this is as much a psychological biography as a political one, and Leaming explores Jackie's complex and often painful inner life with subtlety and compassion. Unabashedly sympathetic toward her protagonist, Leaming provides a fascinating glimpse into the psychodynamics of one of the 20th century's most famous marriages, and her assertion that Jackie Kennedy deserves more credit than she's typically gotten for her husband's successes is persuasive. 32 pages b&w photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)Forecast: Leaming's bio of Katharine Hepburn was a bestseller, and one can predict generous sales for this title, which Leaming will promote in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., including an appearance on the Today show.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Despite the welter of material on Jacqueline Kennedy, biographer Leaming has indeed produced an original and compelling portrait of Jackie as first lady. Leaming has plumbed primary sources heretofore unused (such as the letters of Harold Macmillan) and conducted interviews with sometime friends and associates, perhaps more willing to talk now that Jackie has died. Leaming makes a persuasive case for Jackie's substantive contribution as first lady in the role of diplomat. Jackie did the research and softened up visiting leaders, who then met the president already impressed with his administration. Leaming also explains Jackie's highly criticized absences from the White House: she was fleeing her husband's flagrant womanizing. Leaming's extensive documentation of his shameless conduct and his cruelty to his wife is breathtaking. (Her theories about why they married and why Jackie stood for such treatment are less dispositive.) The publisher plans a national publicity campaign. Public libraries should stock up, but they won't be able to meet the certain demand no matter how many copies they own. Cynthia Harrison, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; First Edition edition (October 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684862093
• ISBN-13: 978-0684862095
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,158,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( O ) > Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy

More About the Author

Barbara Leaming is the author of two New York Times bestselling biographies and three New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her most recent book, a biography of John F. Kennedy, focused on the influence of British history and culture on the thirty-fifth president. She was the first to write extensively about the extraordinary influence of Winston Churchill on Kennedy's intellectual formation and political strategies. Her articles have appeared in many publications in the United States and Europe, including the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and the Times of London. She is married and lives in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant insight into the Kennedy marriage & presidency, November 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years (Hardcover)

I loved this book. I've never read anything before that made me feel like I really knew Jackie Kennedy - but this book makes me feel not only that I know what it would have been like to meet her, but also that I know how she felt at every single moment during her husband's presidency. For the first time I can understand why she stayed with a man who was constantly cheating on her, and how she could have continued to love him. The account of the assassination brought tears to my eyes. When you know the truth of what had been going on in the Kennedys' personal lives at that time, the events are even more heartbreaking.
The book also gave me an incredible insight into Jack Kennedy - how the same man could have bungled things so terribly at the Bay of Pigs and then become such a great leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world was on the brink of nuclear war then, and this book gives a minute by minute account of how decisions were reached - which is very relevant now when the USA is facing another terrible crisis. If you want to understand how a real man can become a hero, faults and all, read this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A probing and fascinating biography, December 4, 2005

By 

Laura Siegel (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mrs. Kennedy : The Missing History of the Kennedy Years (Hardcover)

I am surprised to see so many customer reviews complaining about this book's supposed over emphasis on Mr., rather than Mrs Kennedy. The discussion of Jack's politics, personality, and philandering provide crucial insights into the Kennedy marriage and the choices Jackie made, form her public role as First Lady to her private activities with the children, etc. The research that went into this book is so exhaustive. Using various primary sources, Leaming recreates the Kennedy White House in a second-by-second timeline, bringing the history and the people involved to life in a way that no biography (at least none that I've ever read) has. Far from boring, this account is riveting! I was especially enthralled by the section on the birth and death of Patrick, the Kennedys' third child. The level of detail on these several days' events is amazing. I couldn't put this book down. If you are interested in placing Jackie in a larger historical context, while still getting plenty of details about her personal life, vices, sex appeal and fashion sense, then this bio is a must.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 60% Jack, 40% Jackie, and 2.5 Stars, June 30, 2005

By 

Allyn "pianogirl" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years (Paperback)

Barbara Leaming is clearly a competent biographer. She quotes credible sources, has done extensive study of primary documents, and writes in an informed and objective way about her subjects.

In "Mrs. Kennedy," these biography-writing skills sometimes result in fascinating reading. As an admirer of Jackie's persona, style, and intelligence, I loved learning little-known facts about her emotionally turbulent upbringing and the psychological reasons behind her univerally admired sense of style. The changing thoughts she had about politics, her masterful way of managing cultural and social elements of the White House, and the important diplomatic role she played in her husband's administration were also well-explored.

But after that, there's little left to admire about "Mrs. Kennedy." First of all, Jackie is not the main character that she is advertised to be in the book's title. It almost seemed like the author recounted JFK's actions, failures, and relentless womanizing during the presidency and only then talked about how Jackie reacted to these things.

This was very disappointing, especially to a reader like me who is primarily interested the Kennedy women and not the male side of the family. The intense focus on JFK's life during this period also resulted in horrifically boring sections of the biography that delved far too deeply into events like the Cuban Missile Crisis...events that hardly involved Jackie.

Finally, although JFK's callous womanizing would have definitely affected Jackie's life profoundly, Leaming's habit of constantly mentioning each of the "other" women and describing their affairs became aggravatingly redundant. It made it appear like Leaming had nothing more compelling to say about Jackie herself.

Unless you have a penchant for dull textbooks or want to read everything published about JFK, skip the deceptively titled "Mrs. Kennedy."